Statistics Spotlight - May 2016

Audrey Chang received an Undergraduate Research Award from the College of Arts & Sciences for Fall 2016. Working with Dr. Wei-Wen Hsu in the Department of Statistics, her project will primarily focus on analyzing the Kansas tornado touchdown data from 1950 to 2014 with a special statistical model called a Zero-Inflated Poisson model.

In the Kansas tornado data, many zero counts can be observed from the counties that had no tornado touch downs during a certain period of time. The use of Zero-inflated Poisson models can properly accommodate these excess zeros and provide a better description of the data.

Through this project they expect to gain new understanding to Kansas tornado patterns and provide a new perspective about tornado monitoring and prediction.